Halved
by Adonis Green
Summary: continuing the events of my version of Burned, everything goes back to normal almost back at the Tulsa House of Night, but if you know Zoey as much as i do, "normal" is something that never stays for more than a month!
1. Chapter 1

Zoe a month later

It's been a month since I went to and returned from the darkness, since Aphrodite saved me by sacrificing her own life, since we came back to Tulsa where everything has changed, and stayed that way till today, the day I had the most annoying dream.

The moment I got to school, I noticed something weird, all students welcomed me warmly. At first I thought Kalona had this new crazy plan for Tulsa, but Steve Rae and the others said that it was okay, and Tulsa is ours again. When I was heading to my room, I saw a group of red fledglings I haven't seen before. Steve Rae told me all about Nefferet's spell and how Brad broke it and lead the red fledglings to the place where they are supposed to be. To that I replied "the one day I managed to miss!"

You probably know all the above, so why not start with the things you don't. First, vampires can't live without a high priestess. So the vampire council met up and elected Ilene to do that (I was told she was the only one who was trying to do something against Kalona when all others almost fell to his spell). That is of course until I am old and experienced enough to take on that task myself (I hate the council for doing that to me).

Second, the Tulsa House of Night can't manage without a high priestess of its own. So, the school met up and said the Lenobia should be a temporary high priestess whose sole task is to train me to do that the moment I change. So for the last four weeks I've been going to Lenobia's office after classes so she can teach me all she can, and I love each meeting more than the one before. So I've been asked to do stuff for the school like ordering chalks and supplies for classes, I've been even asked to go, with Lenobia, to interviews with new teachers tomorrow ("you are going to work with them more than I am" Lenobia said to convince me to go).

The school also decided that _my_ sole purpose was to train a replacement as well. That way I can get enough experience and leadership skill as soon as possible so that I can be the vampire high priestess. Sadly, the vampire council was on board.

This made me feel scared. I mean my whole life is being planned for me, by people I look up to and some friends and I don't even have a say in it. But I have to do this, basically because there is no one else the whole world, including the council, who can be trusted as much as everyone trusts me, and I hate that. Their trust in me will lead me to a point where I take a wrong step and fall down a cliff knowing that the whole vampire world is following. This is why I keep my friends close and constantly asking for their advice.

This brings us to my friends. Shawnee and Erin are fighting more and more, just last week we had to separate them during the day (sleep time) because we feared they'll just kill each other, they also asked us to stop calling them twins! Damian and I are closer than ever, I can't count the times he spent all night with me helping me with juggling my duties (school, high priestess and leader of dark daughters). Jack did help as well every now and then, I should note that every time he is around, I just can't stop laughing, he keeps on telling jokes making me forget the stress of all things I have to do.

As for Eric, he offered to stay in the House of Night because of the lack of teachers. I accepted and we agreed to keep a professional relationship and forgetting the past. Thank goodness for that because I am not in the position to deal with romantic issues, and Stark, being the amazing warrior he is, understands that and keeps romance to a minimum. Darius and a few other warrior sons of Erebus came to the House of Night to guard us. He told me that guards are posted in all other Houses as well.

And finally, Steve Rae and the other red fledglings are skipping class because all classes seem to explain all about blue vamps, but not red ones. So they gather around in an empty room and try to discover things about them. The one thing they all agree on is that they only change when they make the right choice (for instance, Stark changed when he pledged to be my warrior, and Brad changed when he killed Nicole so that he could bring the fledglings to their real leader) so most of the time they hang around and debate on what the right choice is. I've been to their "class" a couple of times, and the subjects they talk about are really interesting. I haven't told her yet, but I am giving Steve Rae a philosophy class the moment I become high priestess whether she likes it or not.

Speaking of the red fledglings, their number is not increasing even though we had a couple of rejections during the past month. Those who died are being kept in a room in the infirmary we keep checking on them to see if they wake back up, but up until now, no one did. This led us to believe that Nefferet did something to the dead fledglings so they can come back to life, but we don't know what, so we have a team made of most of the members of the dark daughters and sons to research about that. So far they found a few interesting events in vamp history and mythology, but nothing related to red vamps yet.

Oh, I almost forgot, the night before we left Italy, I told you that Kalona attacked me in my "dream" and woke up to see the wound where he hit me. It was nothing, especially because the Ilene called four healers to deal with the wound the moment she heard how I got it, saying that dreams are unpredictable and everything that happens in a dream should not be dealt with lightly.


	2. Chapter 2

Zoe's reward

Now, it is time I told you about the awkward dream I had just a few seconds ago. It started with me was standing on a cloud alone, I can see the a field right under me decorated with wonderful flowering trees, and I can see the beautiful bright moon right above me guarded by hundreds of thousands of shiny stars.

Looking around, admiring the beauty of my surroundings, I heard her voice, her beautiful strong confident voice. "You have done well _u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya!"_ Nyx said from behind me.

I turn around to see her standing with Aphrodite on her side. As usual, her face was not so clear; all I was able to see is optimal beauty and power. She had one hand around Aphrodite's shoulder who looked tiered and scared, but Nyx's warm embrace seemed to comfort her.

"You two" Nyx continued looking at me and pointing at Aphrodite, "have done everything I asked you to without hesitation. And you have achieved the goals I wanted you to get to, even though the methods you sometimes used I did not want you to go through.

"This showed me something I never realized before, but now I see it as clear as can be. You two are a team, and function best when you work together, so breaking you apart was a mistake I should have never done."

Before I can say anything to her, she disappeared. I was confused, what was she talking about? How is she going to bring Aphrodite back to life? Maybe bring her back as a red fledgling, but she wasn't a blue one when she died, besides she did not die through rejected change (which is how most blue fledglings die before they come back red).

Soon, the clouds under my feet moved out, and I was falling towards the field. I landed on my hands and feet without even a single scratch or pain. I look around to see I was standing alone with Aphrodite standing on the other side of the field. I start walking towards her to talk to her when I saw Shawnee running towards her from behind. But something was different, Shawnee was a vamp, she had a filled in mark with beautiful expansions that was a completely random pattern. She also looked angry, and it was like she was running to attack someone.

The first thought that ran into my head was why Shawnee would want to attack Aphrodite, when I felt someone run past me towards Shawnee. It was Erin! I did not see her face, but somehow I knew it was her.

When both of them reached the middle of the field, and started to move around, I managed to see Erin's face she was also a vamp, and at first glance, her tattoo extensions looked exactly like Shawnee's but once I looked closely, their tattoos fitted together, like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

Soon, I realized that they were fighting, actually fighting and hitting each other. A while later they started using their affinities. Erin was calling water which fell from the sky as severe rain, and Shawnee was calling fire which came from underground, breaking some of the earth to show the fire below.

Chunks from their battle was flying everywhere some almost hit me. A while later, people started to gather and watch the battle, vampire warriors came to calm the battle, the vampire council and other powerful vampires came to try and neutralize the elements. But Shawnee and Erin where very angry and kept fighting no matter what, soon everyone in the area got a chunk from the battle and died.

I was standing alone in the middle of what used to be the beautiful field I looked at a while back, but now it was all destroyed, everyone was dead, and Shawnee and Erin where still fighting. I looked across the field to see Aphrodite still standing there, looking as worried as I was which is when I woke up.

When I woke up, my eyes hurt like hell, I was barely able to see; I directly went to the bathroom and washed my face. When I looked in the mirror, my eyes where huge and red. That is when I realized this is exactly what happened to Aphrodite when she had a vision, is that what Nyx meant when she said Aphrodite and I was a team, was she talking about our affinities, did she give me Aphrodite's gift.

"Well, we just witnessed the end of life on earth, but on the bright side, I feel nothing after seeing the horrible vision we just saw" I heard Aphrodite's voice say in my head.


	3. Chapter 3

Aphrodite's Return

I looked around the room expecting something weird, but everything was normal. Steve Rae was already awake down in the kitchen with the gang.

"I never understood why she wakes up this early!" Aphrodite's voice said.

Again I looked around the room, but found nothing out of the ordinary. "Aphrodite, is that you?" I said it out loud expecting no answer, I thought that I was only hallucinating after the dream I just had. I was very wrong.

"What, I've only been dead a month, and you've already forgotten about me!" she said in a sarcastic tone I've only heard a few times before.

"You know what I mean!" I said, "How can you be here in my head?"

"Actually, I'm not in your head," she answered, "Nyx is disappointed in the progress you made in the past month, so she freed my spirit to your realm because, one, you need me, and two, I'm not ready to leave earth yet."

"Can the others hear you?" I asked.

"Nope," she answered, "you are the only one with a spirit affinity; you're the only one that can see me."

"But I can't see you!" I said quickly.

"You will, just wait." As she said that, I saw her materialize in front of me. She looked as beautiful as ever, she was wearing a gorgeous strapless black dress that went down to her knee, and her hair was like golden waterfall falling down her shoulders.

"You said that Nyx is disappointed," I said after a moment of silence, "why is that, I mean Tulsa is as good as ever."

"That's true," she said looking at me, "but everywhere else is not." She noticed the confused look on my face and continued, "Nyx chose you to deal with Kalona, and you haven't seen or heard from him for a month."

"But, I showed the vamp council how evil he is; now they are searching for him all over the world." I said.

"True," she replied, "but, you and I both know that only you can stop him, or better yet kill him."

"The only problem is I don't know how to kill him!" I said.

"That's why I'm here," she said in her 'I'm better than you' tone, "I'm here to help you find out." She stood there looking at me, waiting for me to take it all in, I had a feeling that there is more news coming my way. "Well," I said. She smiled at me and said, "There is also a poem sent to Karmisha last month that you did not read yet."

"I did read it," I said, "It announced my return from the darkness."

"That was only the first part," she said, "the second we just saw in our vision."

"That was a vision!" I said major surprised because I just saw the end of the world executed by two of my best friends I am the only one who can stop it, and I am supposed to stop one of the most dangerous immortals to ever walk on this earth before he does something dangerous.

"You don't have to do all that," she said as if she can read my mind, "yes I can read your mind," _okay that's weird_, I thought as she giggled before she continued, "Nyx believes that the two things you are worried about are linked, stop one, the other will follow, but the question is, which to stop first."

"Well, I can deal with that," I said, "Because in the vision, Shawnee and Erin are full vamps, they are only forth formers, it could be years before that happens, so let's go find Kalona."

Aphrodite smiled with agreement as I finished expressing my thoughts, when we heard a rush of footsteps heading to my room. The door opens fast and I see Damien standing there breathless. "I'm glad you are awake," he said with a sign of excitement on his face, "because you have to come see this!"

Aphrodite and I followed him downstairs to the girl's common room to see the one thing we feared the most.


	4. Chapter 4

Zoey Runs Out of Time

The girl's common room was filled with people. Damien was going down the stairs in front of me and went to sit next to Jack the moment we got to the room. Steve Rae was with a few red fledglings sitting in the corner whispering to each other looking at the center of the room where Lenobia was standing in the middle of yet another twin fight.

At first, the battle seemed to be a normal one, but when I got to the middle of the room beside Lenobia I understood what was really going on. Even Aphrodite was affected by the scene because she said, for the first time, what I was feeling exactly, "Ah, hell!"

Shawnee and Erin where standing face to face staring at each other, it was not just any kind of staring, it was the kind that said "you are sooo dead!"

"Steve Rae said they changed during breakfast," Lenobia said trying to cut the tension, "she said it happened five minutes ago, at the same moment!" I looked at their tattoos to find that they looked exactly like the ones I saw in our visions. I looked at Aphrodite who was shaking her head worryingly, and that confirmed the fact that we are running out of time.

"Oh yes we have," Shawnee said angrily, "we just went through the most important moment any vamp has ever gone through, at the same time!"

"And not just that," Erin continued in an even angrier tone (I was not sure how that was even possible), "we do not only share this moment, it appears we share a tattoo!"

This made me go crazy, a month ago, I heard the twins saying how cool it would be to have the same exact tattoo, now they have similar tattoos and they hate it! I just don't understand.

"Isn't it a little early for them to change?" I asked, "They are only fourth formers."

"That's not what worries me," said Lenobia, "I myself changed during my fourth former year." She went silent for a while before she continued, "What worries me is that they went through the change at the exact same moment, I have never heard of such a situation, even in different areas in the world!"

"I have heard of such scenario," Brad said moving towards us away from his group, "I read about it while researching for red fledglings in vamp history and found a story about two sis-"

"Don't ever mention the cursed Bloody Sisters," Lenobia said angrily, "for fear they might return." She took a few moments to calm herself down the said. "I'll go to the temple for their joining ritual; they'll go through it together, I can't have them fight over who should go first. Make sure they are okay with that before you send them to me, and after that, wait for me in my office because we have instructors to interview." She left the room before I can ask any questions.

The twins started a new fight saying that they will not agree to share their joining ritual too. Steve Rae and the rest of the gang tried to stop the fight but failed as I stood there thinking _how on earth_ _am I going to stop all this? _Then I heard Aphrodite's voice say, "don't worry Zoey, we will find a way, we always do." For some reason that made me calm down.

I looked up to try and help the others, which is when I caught Stark looking at me as if there was something wrong. But when I started talking he shook his head and looked away.

"okay," I said with a strength I never knew I had, and what I said seemed to me like something Aphrodite would say "I know you two don't want to go through the joining ritual together, but it is still better than going through it after the other, so shut up and go!"

After I said that, Aphrodite looked at me surprised saying, "where did that come from?" just then Stark looked at me suspiciously, to that I screamed "WHAT?" That made him step back shaking his head slowly saying "nothing… it's… it's nothing!" and he left the room.

I looked back at the room to see the twins leaving still angry, Steve Rae was following saying "I'll just go with them to make sure they behave on the way." I mouthed the words "thank you," to her which made her smile at me and wink.

Brad was about to exit the room when I stopped him, "um… Brad," I said, "before you go to class I want to ask you something."

"Ask away!" he said with a huge smile on his face. His smile made me want to forget everything and just stand there looking at it all day, it was beautiful, and it always radiates positive energy.

"You said something about sisters just now-"I said.

"Oh," he cut me off, "you mean the bloody sisters. I don't know much about them, but all I know is that they are the cause of the worst vamp was in history."

"Why is that?" I asked, "Did humans kill too many vampires during that war because of them?"

Brad looked as clueless as I was. But then, Damien was there to help us, I did not realize he was still in the room, but thankfully he was.

"That's definitely not it Zoey!" he said, "The bloody sisters are cause of the only war in history that happened between vampires. That is why Lenobia went crazy at their mention; many vampires fear their return by mentioning them. And you should not talk about them anymore, because they might return."

But sadly, something inside me is saying they already have.


	5. Chapter 5

Zoey and the New Teachers

I went to Nefferet's old office. Lenobia was not far behind. She said that the joining ritual went great, but the twins started fighting again right after it was done.

"Before we go and start talking to random strangers," Lenobia said before the interviews, "I think that we need some help in evaluations."

As soon as she said that, the door opened from behind me and in came my grandma Redbird. She walked in healthier and happier than ever. I haven't seen her since we came back from Italy, I went to see her in the abbey before I came here where everything went crazy.

I instantly ran to give her a big hug, a hug big enough to compensate for the last month.

"I missed you _u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya." _She whispered in my ear.

"I missed you too grandma." I said. After about a minute of the greatest hug I ever had, I looked back at Lenobia and said, "are you sure we need her help. I don't mean any disrespect, but she is a human!"

"I know," Lenobia answered, "but its okay, you trust her, so I do too."

"Thank you," grandma said with a huge smile on her face, "now, you ready to meet your potential future employees!"

And so, the first applicant was invited to the room, and the interviews started. I don't want to bore you with the details of the interviews; I just want to say that most only applied hoping to meet me.

We started the interview hoping to fill two positions in the school, one is vamp soc. And the other is spells and potions. But near the end, we lost hope in even filling one. That was right before he walked in.

He was a tall handsome young man. He had long blond-ish hair (it was a little dark) and big beautiful blue eyes. He walked up to us, handed Lenobia his application and stepped back to sit on the chair in front of us.

Lenobia skimmed the application silently then said, "so, Richard Broun…" at the mention of his name he nodded his head smiling, "you recently graduated with high honors from the London Dark House," she continued (I was kinda lost here, but Lenobia told me later that the London Dark House is kinda like a vamp college, she also said that only Britons are allowed to enroll) "and you are applying for the vamp soc. Position."

"That is true," he said with a beautiful deep voice and an attractive British accent that made everything he said very similar to a quote from Shakespeare, "I majored in vamp history, focusing mostly on American history."

"Do you have any experience with teaching?" Lenobia asked

"But of course," he answered with a kinda offended tone, "all LDH students are required to work with children and teens, and that is because all students who apply there are interested in being teachers."

The interview went on for quite a while, all three of us where impressed with the things he have done in the past. After the interview was over, all three of us admitted that we like him, and agreed to give him the job.

But sadly we still needed a spells and potions teacher. And that's when it hit me like lightning.

"Grandma!" I said out loud without intending to.

"What is dear?" she asked quickly looking at me.

I was hesitant, but the idea was goanna get out anyway, so I said, "Grandma can take the spell and potion position!"

"What?" Grandma said with a surprised tone.

"An hour ago you did not want a human to be here during an interview to new teachers," Lenobia said, "now you want one to teach!"

"Well, why not?" I said, "She is the one person I trust the most on this earth, she also is the person with most experience in Cherokee rituals and stuff."

"But she is a human who will be working with a class full of fifth formers who just got their bloodlust!" Lenobia said, "You are putting her in danger."

"Which is why we will put her with sixth formers who know how to control their bloodlust," I said, "and before you say anything, Grandma will be a great teacher, I just know it."

Something inside me was telling that grandma teaching in the House of Night is a good thing, and Aphrodite seems to agree, because if I remember correctly, Aphrodite used to like Grandma Redbird, and apparently she still dose.


	6. Chapter 6 not fate

**First, I want to apologize for the long wait.**

**Second, I had to remove the fate chapter because in realized there is too much going on and too much still to come, so sorry for the in convenience.**

Zoe and the History Discussion

I left Lenobia's office trying to find my friends, I want to make sure we are ready for the full moon ceremony two days from now before our new lessons. For the first time in the Tulsa House of Night, the Dark Daughter's ceremony, and High Priestess ceremony are gonna be one and the same, so I want to make sure everything is perfect, but I can't coz all my friends are nowhere to be seen.

"Zoey!" I heard someone call me from behind as I walked down the corridor towards the courtyard.

It was Brad running towards me carrying a piece of paper in his hand. "What is it Brad," I said, "and please hurry, I have to go find the gang to talk about the ceremony."

"No need," he said quickly, "Steve Rae sent me she wants to tell you that everything is under control, thanks to the huge number of Volunteers this month."

"And the twins?" I asked.

"She has them working in different committees," He answered, "Shawnee is with us on research committee with me and the other red fledglings trying to find out about our origins and other magic related stuff, and Erin is on clean up committee helping the Dark Daughters set up the temple for the ritual."

"Excellent!" I was proud of her, I would have never been able to survive this week if it wasn't for her, I should thank her tonight before going to bed. "Now," I continued, "you wanted to show me something?"

"Yes," he answered, "as you already know we are having trouble finding out who we are, and where did we begin, so we decided to broaden our search to the origin of vampires instead, but found nothing. However, buy complete accident I found something you might find interesting!"

He stopped for a long dramatic pause which I hate so much, so I said, "And that would be…"

"Well, I found more about the Bloody Sisters. I found out that they not only went to school here in 1930, but they where Dark Daughters. So I went to check the school records and stuff, and I found a picture of them which I have here." He showed me the paper, it was a group photo of an all girl group, all where beautiful, all where fledglings.

"Now, let me direct your attention to the pair down here," he said pointing at the two girls on the bottom right corner of the picture, "these two are named Snow and Rain, not sure which is which, but I am pretty sure they were known later as the Bloody Sisters!"

"Oh my God!" I said shocked, they looked so innocent and sweet, one appeared to have platinum blonde hair which she had in a tight ponytail long enough to reach her waist, the other had very short dark hair barely reaching her cheeks and covering her left eye.

"That is not all," Brad interrupted my train of thought, "if you look at the center of the picture, and look at the Leader of the Dark Daughters. Dose she look familiar to you?"

He did not have to point at her to know who he was talking about, I was able to recognize that face instantly, "That's Lenobia!" I said.

"Exactly!" He said, "I checked, and found out that this photo was taken about three months before the war. The war itself lasted for a whole year, Lenobia disappeared after the war never to be seen or heard of until 10 years ago when she took the teaching job here, many of the powerful vamps here tried to convince her to talk about what happened, some even tried to read her mind, but none found anything new."

"But does anyone know how the war started, or why did it end!"

"Only she does," he answered, "and something tells me she'll take that secret to her grave."

"I guess we'll have to make sure that does not happen." Aphrodite said exactly what I was thinking.


	7. Chapter 7

Zoe's Lesson

No wonder she did not say anything earlier, she is probably close friends with them, I have to ask her about what happened. Luckily, we have a lesson scheduled for today – more like right now. I told Brad that he did well to bring me such information, and told him to go back to whatever he was doing, before I went back to Lenobia's office.

When I got back, she had already remodeled the office to the classroom like state we always have during our lessons. When she saw me walk through the door she smiled at me. I sat in the usual seat and took out the notebook from the bag I left here after the interview.

"No need for that," she told me, "today's lesson will be shorter than usual, because it is actually going to be tomorrow, so I want you well rested for that. This means that, after you leave my office soon, you head strait to your room, and have a good 'day' sleep."

"Understood," I said, "what are we discussing?"

"Today, we are going to discuss our little field trip tomorrow," she said, "it is not the kind of trip where we go site seeing and learn things from old forgotten paintings. It is the kind of important diplomatic incident."

"Huh?" what is she talking about?

"We are going to tracker camp tomorrow," she said, "this is the most important event in every high priestess's life, we usually wait till they change, but since we know for sure that you will be our high priestess, so why not."

"What is tracker camp?" I asked.

"Well," she said, "remember the day you where marked, there was this weird vampire who tells you that Nyx has chosen you. Well trackers themselves are a special kind of vampires with special abilities, which makes it obvious they go through special rituals."

"How special are they?" the question got out of my mouth before I could stop it.

"For starters," she answered, "they change seconds after being marked by another tracker. The Marker (or tracker that dose the marking) takes his/her new recruit to the tracker camp where he/she goes through his/her training. After three years of courses, the recruit is now a fully functioning tracker able to find anyone on the face of this Earth."

"But why is this visit of important diplomatic incident?" I asked.

"You see, tracker think they are better vampires than us," she replied, "they that is because they do not pass through a fledgling period, and because of their unique abilities which they only use when Nyx asks." She paused for a while then continued, "they also throw anyone who does not change instantly in the closest House of Night because they consider them unreal vampires and keep them here to become true vampires."

The lecture went on for twenty more minutes where Lenobia told me about everything there is to know about trackers. That included the fact that tracker camp has a leader that is changed every year, the leader could be male or female, they do not distinguish between sexes (a tracker is a tracker). They have a unique way to communicate with Nyx where she tells them who to track, and which tracker should go after the marked. They also consider themselves one big family, they are all siblings (with an Alfa sibling voted for every year) they have no teachers and no classes, the courses are older siblings helping out younger recruits. And finally, I learned that they age like humans, and they accept it because they believe that the power they have should not be used by one tracker for a long time, new recruits must have their turn.

"Now, to conclude our meeting," she said near the end, "we are going to tracker camp tomorrow, which is about an hour ride from here, we will be taking our two warriors with us, we are only following protocol, I'll explain that on our way tomorrow. We will be moving during lunch, so you will attend your morning classes, and we will return the day after, about two hours before the full moon ceremony, which will give you enough time to make final preparations."

I was asked to go get my rest after the end of the short lecture, but I wanted to stay and ask about the sisters. "Umm…" I said getting off my seat.

"Is there something on your mind Zoey?" Lenobia asked.

"I want to ask you a question that has nothing to do with the lecture."

"Well, you know I am here for you, and I am ready to answer whatever question you have."

"I want to ask you about Snow and Rain."

When she heard the names she closed her eyes in pain. After a moments silence, she said, "I think you should talk about this matter with a weather reporter."

I can see that she is trying to dodge the question, but I wanted an answer, "I mean the dark daughters, Rain and Snow." I said.

This time she stepped over to the window looking outside, turning her back to me. After a moments silence she answered, "Like I said, you should consult a weather reporter."

I wanted to ask again, trying to get a straight answer out of her, but Aphrodite stopped me saying that we should let her be for today.


	8. Chapter 8

Epiphany

I went back to my room, just like Lenobia said, expecting Stevie Rae waiting for me, I could almost see her begging me to tell me all about the lessons with Lenobia and the new teachers we hired. I also wanted to talk to her about the twins and how to stop them from fighting, and how I believe their fighting is somehow connected to Kalona. But when I got to the room, it was empty except for the big fluffy orange fur ball on my bed sleeping next to a hand written note.

The note was from Stevie Rae, I read the note out loud:

"_Rooming with Erin to make sure no one dies tonight, had Shawnee rooming with Kramisha. I left our room empty coz you need all your energy tomorrow (Stark and Darius already know about this and, of course, told me). So have a good night sleep, and I'll see you tomorrow evening (still not used to the day change!) right next to that delicious bowl of Count Chocolate."_

I took a pen from my dresser and wrote the words "_Thank you." _ As if saying it to her in person and I put it back on my bed as I got ready to sleep.

"Now I see why you keep your friends close," Aphrodite said out of nowhere, "back when I was a big shot I kept everyone away coz I thought they'll just ruin everything, now I see they actually help!"

"Actually," I said, "that depends on the great people you choose to trust."

"And you made a very wise decision."

"I did." Was what I said as I pull the bed covers over my body (making sure Nala isn't bothered by me moving around). When I was done I looked at her eyes hoping she gets the hint that she was one of those people I chose, that is when the beautiful innocent smile I rarely see on her face told me that she did.

I was standing at the big entrance of the Tulsa House of Night, Aphrodite was standing next to me.

"Is this a dream?" I asked her.

"Yes," she answered, "similar to the one we had yesterday."

She was right, this is a vision, so every detail counts. It was raining, but the rain itself felt weird. For starters, it was warm, even the water itself was just weird. Suddenly, we here screaming coming from inside the school, so both Aphrodite and I ran after them. The screams led us to Nyx's Temple, or what's left of it.

We went inside, to find the floor of the temple barely visible due to all the bodies on it, some were burned, others were wet, but sadly, all dead. I look at the center of the temple to find a table, candles and lighters placed in a circle. Then it hits me, this is going to happen during a full moon ritual.

I take a step closer to see that all participants where on the floor except for two, fighting, throwing fire balls and water rays at each other as the rain fell on them from the blown up roof above them.

One of the bodies on the floor moved, it was Damian, he was sad. He was saying, "I tried to stop them, I tried really hard, but I failed, I wasn't strong enough…" then he disappeared.

Another body right beside me moved, it was Kramisha, she was scared. She was saying, "I did nothing, I was too scared, I did not know what to do, I only ran, and it led to this…" then again she disappeared.

Next was Jacks body, it moved from his station, he appeared to be in pain. He was saying, "it hurts to see friends fight, it hurts to see so much death, it even hurts to be dead…" and so he disappeared.

Then Stevie Rae moved from the north side of the circle, she was angry. She said, "This is all her fault, we can do nothing without her, and yet she leaves us alone, she will pay…"but she did not disappear, she kept saying these words over and over again. I knew she was talking about me, and I wanted it to stop.

Suddenly Stevie Rae went back to her dead state as the door to the temple opened, a woman was standing there carrying a dagger. She ran down towards the center dodging the twins' attacks. She got to Shawnee and plunged the dagger into her heart. As Shawnee's lifeless body fell on the floor, the rain stopped, and the sky cleared. The woman looked up at the night sky and saw the moon, she smiled then ran back out of the temple.

When the woman left, Erin looked around to see all death around her, she recognized most of the dead which causes her to drop to her knees and cry. As the tears fell from her eyes, it began to rain again.

I move closer to Erin trying to comfort her, but the rain falling on my shoulders impailed me like spears. That caused me to jump out of bead screaming. I look at my watch to find I was almost late for class…again


	9. Chapter 9

Zoe's morning classes

Steve Rae was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs with a sandwich in her hand, she gave it to me when I reached the bottom saying, "your late, Lenobia said you should check professor Richard's class before you go off to the camp." We went out of the dorm building and headed to the classrooms, she kept on talking as I ate whatever sandwich she made me as fast as I can, "I know we planned to talk this morning, I see that you are tired and I feel that there is something you want to tell me," she said, "but we have no time now, but we will have time tomorrow, right after you come back from camp. If everything goes to plan, we'll have an hour to talk before the full moon ritual tomorrow."

We reached the door to Prf. Richard's class where she left saying "good luck in there, and enjoy."

"You do know that you should have shut her up and told her about me and the vision we had a few minutes ago!" Aphrodite said right before I entered class.

"I wanted to, but I couldn't." I answered, "she already has too much on her plate because of me, I cant give her more!"

Prof. Rich (the name he wanted the whole class to call him) was amazing, there wasn't even a dull moment in class, all student where listening intently to what he said (and it wasn't only because of the adorable British accent he had). He also asked some of the students for their opinions on some subjects, which is something none of the teachers here did.

Near the end of class he stopped talking and looked at the class. After a long pause he said, "Well, that just about covers everything I wanted to teach you today, but we appear to have ten more minutes remaining of class time. Normally I would tell students to enjoy the rest of the day, but we have a spy sitting in here in the front row," he looked at me smiling when he said that, "I can't let you go, but I will allow a free discussion, you may ask me anything you want to."

I expected the class to complain and start spitballing me, but everyone started to talk amongst each other trying to figure out questions to ask him, but none knew what to ask.

Without my control, my hand went up to the sky. I directly lowered it, but it was already late because he saw me and said, "Well, Priestess Redbird, do you have a question?"

"I want to ask you a question I fear you may not want to answer," My lips moved on their own, "but I want the answers, so I am going to ask anyway."

"I am intrigued Priestess Redbird," he said looking straight at me, "ask away!"

"At our interview yesterday you said you were a history major at LDH." I said looking back at him, "so, I want to ask you about a part of history everyone chose to forget. I want to ask you about the Bloody War."

I heard the whole class gasp, but Prof. Rich's gaze remained the same. After a moment's pause he said, "I certainly do not want to answer any question related to that topic, but I said this is an open discussion, and I will answer whatever question you want. But, sadly, my knowledge in that topic is limited. So, I will just tell you all what I know.

"Why the war started no one knows, but rumors say that the sisters started to fight, and their friends where torn apart, some supported Rain, and the others supported Snow. Later this was known as the halving of the House of Night, two halves fighting most of the time. Soon after, the war extended, but it did not last. Because a year after the Halving, one of the sisters died, and her supporters realized that their actions led to her death. While the other sister thought that her sister's death was her fault and she disappeared, never to be seen again. As for the best friend caught in the middle, she spent 70 years mourning the loss of both her friends, only to return ten years ago."

The class was silent for what seemed like an eternity. The first thought that came to my mind was that I am one of the best friends caught in the middle. And then it became clear, the vision makes sense now. The remaining sister will come to the House of Night soon, wanting to end the war before it starts using the only way she knows how. By killing one of the new sisters, and I am not gonna let that happen.

"And just how are you gonna do that with a schedule busier than an actor shooting three movies in one week!" Aphrodite always knew when is the worst time to interfere with my thoughts.


	10. Chapter 10

**Zoe and the ride to the camp**

I was late, again, I was supposed to be at the parking lot ten minutes ago, so I had to run my way in the corridor through students going in and out of class. Halfway across the corridor that leads to the courtyard, I heard someone call after me, "no running in the hall young lady!"

Involuntarily, I stopped and turned around (back in elementary/middle school this used to happen all the time, and this was my way to avoid punishment). I expected to see an angry face ready to scold, but instead, it was the most beautiful comforting smile I have ever seen. It was grandma Redbird.

Before saying anything, I ran to her and gave her a big fat hug. Then after a few minutes silence, I said, "Oh grandma, I forgot all about you teaching here now! How was your first class?" I asked eagerly.

"It was great, everyone loved the class, and the information they learned from the HUMAN who shouldn't even know them!" I was happy for her, she appeared to be having fun getting to know new people and help them… this reminded me that I was in a pickle and I did need some advice too, but before I could ask her help, she started talking nonsense.

"Now, I know you think this is a perfect plan, and that nothing would spoil it," she said, "but there is a little problem with this plan, and this problem would still exist even if I was younger, much younger." I began to see where the conversation was headed, and I did not want to hear the rest, "in other words, this plan is temporary" she continued, "and you will have to find a new teacher when I… move on!"

She looked at me expecting an answer, but I did not want to give her any, so I did what I thought is the best way to escape the train wreck that will follow. I chose to escape for now, so I said, "I really want to talk to you about this, and other stuff too, but I am late for the trip. I am sorry, but I have to go."

"It is fine," she said, "as long as you promise me that you will think about this!"

"I will," I replied, gave her a goodbye hug and left. I know I shouldn't have left her like this, but it was not the time or place to talk about such things, and I was not ready to have such a talk.

Lenobia was waiting for me at the parking lot near the school Hummers she was talking to two men who were waiting with her. I did not know who they were at first, but as I got nearer, I realized they were Stark and Darius.

"You're late!" was the first thing that came out of Lenobia's mouth.

"I know!" I answered, "and I'm sorry… shall we go then!"

All four of us got in the car, Lenobia was driving and Darius was sitting next to her (I think he should play the role of her warrior) I sat in the seat behind her, and Stark was sitting beside me.

"Okay!" Aphrodite said right when Lenobia exited the school ground, "now that we have an hour ahead of us, we should talk about this vision we had."

"What vision?" Stark asked looking at me strangely.

"What do you mean?" I said trying to hide the Aphrodite secret.

"I heard you say 'let us talk about the vision we had' or something" he answered.

"I did not say that!" I said.

"Then you must have thought it," Lenobia said from behind the wheel "if the bond is strong enough, warriors can read their priestess's mind, and yours is strong."

"But, if she is not my priestess," Darius said, "then how come I heard it too?"

It was the most awkward three seconds in my life, there was silence, if I dropped a pin on the floor I would have heard it as loud as a church bell!

I was speechless, I was unable to think, let alone speak. The three seconds (that felt like three years) passed, and Aphrodite said, "I think we should come clean!"

"Please do!"Said both Stark and Darius at the same time.

I did not want anyone to know about Aphrodite but this was not my decision, and she deserves to tell the one she loved that she is here. So I decided to come clean, but before I started talking, Aphrodite stopped me and said looking at the warriors, "you should both hear what I say, so if you do, nod three times." And they both did.

"I do not want the whole world to know about this" she continued, "and so you two are going to be the only ones who know." She paused for a second and looked at Lenobia who seemed lost then continued, "we are going to tell her that Zoe had a vision about meeting the cam leader, we are going to fake all events, this will work because she is not going to meet him with us. As for Darius reading my thoughts, we'll just say that it is a mystery. After we convince her of the story, I will tell you all about the real vision and why I got it. But first you'll have to promise not to freak out."

We managed to convince Lenobia about the vision, and we stopped talking about the thought reading thing. After all is said and done, Aphrodite started talking again and told the boys all about her return and the visions we had. Stark was surprised, he did not expect such a thing to happen, but Darius looked hurt. Soon we were about to start interpreting the visions, but Lenobia stopped the car in the middle of the forest and said, "We're here!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Zoey's Guide**

We got out of the car, Lenobia went straight to the trunk pulled out a small bag and gave it to me, then pulled out a huge heavy one that instantly fell on the ground. She looked and Darius and said, "take this bag to the top of that hill," she pointed to a small hill surrounded by trees then continued, "in the bag there is a tent, I want you to start working on that."

"But I need to talk to Zoey for a sec," he said.

"No… I need to talk to her," she replied, "Zoey's entire life depends on what happens in there tonight," she pointed to the middle of the forest away from the hill, "and if she does not do exactly what I tell her, her job as high priestess will be much harder!"

"It already is hard," I interrupted.

"Then you see what I mean!" she answered. And so, reluctantly, Darius carried the bag on his shoulders and went up the hill. The way he carried it made it seem weightless.

She then opened the lighter bag she carried and took out a small box. She opened the box and handed it to me saying, "When you meet the leader, this year he is named Adam, you greet him the way you would greet any vampire, this will show the equality between you two. It will show that you are not superior to him, and neither him to you," she paused for a while then continued, "he should then say something to welcome you and warn you about the dangers of this job, which is when you offer him this medallion." She looked at the box when she said that.

The medallion had a square-ish shape with round edges, it was made with a rock ad black as the night sky. On it was a silver crescent moon standing in the middle with two gold stars on either side. "this is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years," she said, "this medallion is given to the tracker leader by the high priestess recruit, and is given back to her with the first fledgling that enters her school under her rule, she then gives the medallion to her recruit. And so the cycle is complete."

"So you mean, Nefferet had this?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered, "why do you ask?"

"It's nothing," I said, "I am just surprised she would give this up for _me_!"

"But she did not give it up for you," she said, "she had given it to her own recruit before you got to the House of Night!"

At first I was confused, but then I remembered, Aphrodite was the leader of the dark daughters when I got to school. And if I remember correctly, she was going through high priestess training before I replaced her as leader of the dark daughters. Just then a strong feeling of guilt fell on my shoulders. It was my fault Aphrodite did not get to keep the medallion, it was my fault she is only a spirit on my side now. But that feeling was instantly replaced by Aphrodite's trust and care.

"So," I said after a short pause, "how do I get to the camp?"

"That's why I am here!" we heard someone say from around the car.

We go around and see a tall beautiful red-haired girl wearing a sort of camouflage dress; it was both weird and cool at the same time. She looked young, not older than I am, and something about her made me relaxed.

"I am Lisa," she said, "and I am going to be your guide to, in and from the tracker camp. So shall we go?"

"Not yet," Lenobia said stopping me from going to her, "where is your elder, protocol states that both next-in-line leader and his apprentice should come."

"That is true," said Lisa, "but my elder is not suited for this job, for this visit is going to be a special one. For as long as this camp has been such event has never happened. A young high priestess is visiting, so young that her tracker is still alive, and law clearly states that a vampire and his tracker should only meet at the day he was marked. Since we have no time to vote for a new heir, we sent Xander _your tracker_ off the camp, not to return until you leave."

Lenobia apologized instantly, and then told me to go with Lisa, Stark came too. Before we walked into the forest Lenobia wished me luck and went to help Darius with the tent.

The forest was lit by the almost full moon above, it was quiet and no sound could be heard. The first half of the walk was silent, Lisa walked, and Stark and I followed. To avoid the awkward silence, I asked her why was the camp so far inside the forest. To that she answered that the camp has always been there, it would be folly to move it, and to that she added humans are not permitted inside, so the camp must be well hidden.

Soon, we were able to see a light far ahead. It had an orange-yellow fire. Lisa said that it is the camp, a bonfire is lit every day, all night as a tribute to Nyx. She also said that the size of the fire increases with the increase of the moon, and since tomorrow is the full moon, the light of the fire can be seen this far.

About fifteen minutes later, we were standing at a wooden gate closed shut. Lisa knocked on the gate what appeared to be a secret knock. She stepped back as the gate was pulled open by two muscular shirtless men. As the gate was opening, I was able to see the huge fire at the exact center of the camp, soon I saw wooden houses forming a huge circle around the fire (it formed a big circular central "garden" with the bonfire in the middle). There were small paths from the central garden to the outer walls of the camp between the houses. There were only two large paths, one leading to the garden from the gate, the other is opposite this path that leads away from the garden towards the largest house in the cam (I suspect it to be the house of the leader.)

"Welcome Zoey" Lisa said with a smile on her face when the gate was fully opened, "to my home." And she invited us in. as we walked in the muscular men closed the doors behind us, and people from all over the camp started to arrange themselves along our path.


	12. Chapter 12

**Zoe and the Camp leader**

We walked along the line of people as they greeted us, and we greeted back. Lisa was still walking in front of us leading us straight to the central garden and the bonfire. As we drew near, I could see some trackers sleeping, and others standing by them. I asked her how could they sleep with all the songs and cheers. She said that this is how Nyx sends her targets. She said that Nyx forces a tracker to sleep, this makes him/her dream about a target, another tracker, probably a mentor or apprentice, stands near and intercepts the message making the target his. He leaves the other sleeping to find the target, the sleeper simply wakes up by morning.

She continued saying, "apparently Nyx thinks that I am a better sleeper than seeker, for Xander and I have tracked 28 targets over the past year, which is more than any tracker team in history. Which is why Xander is going to be the next leader, and I his successor, the youngest leader ever. There is another reason however, is that we found you."

"You dreamt of me for Xander!" I said surprised, "but doesn't that mean you are my tracker as well?"

"No," she answered, "the sleeper knows nothing of the target, because the seeker takes the memory of the dream from the sleeper, which helps him find the target easier."

We were now about halfway through the garden with the bonfire to our left. The remainder of the walk was silent, because I was enchanted by the song being played. It was like nothing I have ever heard before, it portrayed both strength and compassion, anger and joy. I started to visualize such song during a full moon ritual, and the power it would give to our circle.

Sooner than I'd hoped, we reached the house of the leader and entered. The whole house was made of wood. The first room was small and had only a door opposite the one we entered, the room was empty except for a red rug on the floor. "Wait here a moment," Lisa said, "I will announce your arrival. You may enter when I call you."

She then opened the door ahead, we could hear her say, "prime brother, our guests have arrived."

"Then why are they outside," a beautiful deep voice said, "invite them in."

She came back to the small room and told us to go in. the next room was nothing like small one. For starters, it was bigger, much bigger, it also had more decorations on the wall. on the far end of the room there was a large chair, with smaller ones on both sides, all seated with strong men and women. On the large central one was a big muscular man with really short blond hair, his dark blue eye where scanning his guests. As we approached him, he stood up put his closed hand on his chest and bowed saying blessed be.

Stark and I mimicked his greeting. He then stood upright in front of us saying "welcome young Priestess. Perhaps too young! And for that we are sorry for the improper greeting at the forest outskirts."

"No, I did not mind," I said, "Lisa was great, she told us many things we do not know."

His eyes then went to Lisa angry then said, "and for that it is improper. If Xander was with you, he wouldn't have uttered a word, as protocol states." Lisa's face started to go red with embarrassment.

"In that case I am the one who should apologize," I said, "because I was the one who asked questions I shouldn't have asked. As you said, I am young and not very familiar with protocol."

"Taking a bullet for a girl you just met I see," he said, "I am torn between calling this loyalty or politics." He paused for a second then continued, "you know that if I disapprove of you, you will never be a high priestess, and it is possible you planned on your way here, which is something I would expect from our little Lisa." I thought her face could not go any redder before he said that, but I was wrong.

I stood there not able to respond to his accusations, a few seconds later he said, "it is also possible you really do not know much of protocol and you are telling the truth. Right now I am leaning to the second choice because you have been here for five minutes and I don't have my medallion yet!" he put his hand out waiting for the gift.

I instantly took the box out of my pocket and put it in his hand. To that, the whole room roared in laughter. Seeing our confused faces Adam quieted the room and said, "No need to be so tense young priestess. To tell you the truth, I am not a fan of tradition." Involuntarily I started to smile. Adam mimicked my smile and said, "in fact, I want you to enjoy your time here, all I should tell you is about the tracking process, but I see the Lisa has already done that for me. My only regret is that you won't have as much fun as I had hoped because of the nightmares I've been getting, and the clan is affected by me mood as well."

Unable to stop myself I asked, "What sort of nightmares?"

"Do you really want to hear me talking about a winged daemon who has been showing up in my dreams all day every day?" he said.

"A winged daemon!" I said, "you don't mean Kalona!"

"You know of him," he said angrily, "you know of the daemon who's name should not be mentioned in my halls!"

"Yes," I answered, "as a matter of fact, it is partly my fault he is alive, and it is my responsibility to stop his reign of terror."

"Are you serious!" he said mocking me, "you, the young priestess."

"Yes me, I have been trying to stop him for months, I even went to Italy trying to catch him. Now I see that you and I have the same enemy, we could unite our powers and stop him together."

"But that is not the will of Nyx, and I will not share my power with a foolish young teenager who thinks she can stop the most terrifying beast I have ever seen even if she is the most powerful vampire ever lived."

"You have dreamt of him and you know what that means!" Lisa came into the debate.

"Returning the favor I see," he said angrily, "it could be a message to track him down, but it could also be a warning, to keep my family close to me and safe."

"And you think your family will be safe when Kalona burns the world and your camp as well." I said.

"no they won't, but they will be safer here than out there trying to find the demon we seek to escape!"

"But Prime broth-"Lisa started to say when he cut her off then said, "I don't want to talk about this anymore, and I am tiered, I need to sleep. Take our guests to the guesthouse Lisa, stay with them and make sure they do not leave the house."

And just like that all who were watching stood up forming a wall between us and Adam closing in on us. The only thing we could do is leave the room and go to the guesthouse.


	13. Chapter 13

**sorry for the incredibly long wait, but now i am back, hopefully i can finish this before the world ends :p**

**thank you for your patience, i hope you like the new additions :)**

Zoe's new ally

"I can't believe he did this!" Lisa was furious during our stay at the guest house, which was the only real house in that place (all the others where wooden "tents", but this one can easily be mistaken for a real house) but not as decorated as the others, it was completely empty except for a few old chairs and a couple of futons in the back.

"I expected him to see it when you get here…" she babbled on

"See what?" I said before she moved on to the next random thought that can come to her head

"I know this may seem a little crazy," she answered, "but I believe these so called _'nightmares' _Adam has been getting, are more like a message from Nyx, if only I could tap into his dreams so I can go after him myself."

"But why would you want to go after Kalona if it means leaving the only place you've known for the past two years risking your life in the process?" Stark yanked the words out of my mouth

"You may think leaving this place is a reason not to go, but it is the main reason for me to leave," she said with eyes starting to shine with tears, "I never belonged here… everyone thinks I'm crazy, I'm friends with no one…" she paused for a few minutes then continued, "I tried to leave countless times, but Adam always found me, he says a target less tracker is a target himself, which is why I need to track Kalona, if he is a target, I won't be…"

I looked at the poor girl as she cried her eyes out. My gut started to tell me that I need to help her, one way or another, my gaze moved over to Stark's eyes, and their warmth, coupled with his wide grin, told me that I have to help.

"You know, we need to find Kalona too," the crying suddenly stopped, "and Adam won't give us a tracker, I guess what I'm saying is, how can we help you track him?"

"Oh thank you thank you!" the tears returned, but these were different from the ones before, theses were tears of joy, "okay, I think that Adam is getting those nightmares every night, so I guess if I can sneak out of here and into his room, I can tap into his dream."

"But we are watched like hawks in here," Stark said, "there is no way we can leave here, especially because sunrise is coming soon."

"I can sneak out the back door," she said, "and the sun has no effect on trackers."

"And you think we will let you go on your own!" I stopped her from moving to the door, "what if you get caught, or worse…"

"And do you have any better idea?" she waited there for about a minute then continued when no one answered, "didn't think so."

She got to the back door, I can feel the sun rising, I can see the sleepy look in Stark's eyes (the one he gets at the exact moment before sunrise, which I love sooooo much!) then it hit me.

"Is it required for a tracker to have a dream?" I asked, "if for example, I dreamt of him, can you tap into my dream and start tracking?"

"I don't know," was her reply, "I don't think anyone tried it before."

"We can," I said

"What are you doing Zoe?" Stark whispered with a concerned look on his face, "you want him to visit your dreams again."

"You dream of him too!" Lisa said with a surprised tone, apparently Starks whispers weren't effective.

"Yes, I have," I said, "several times too"

"How long since your last dream?"

"About a month ago,"

"Can you make sure he visits tonight?"

"Zoe don't!" Stark said, "You know what could happen when he visits!"

"We have some sort of connection," I said despite Stark's warning, "I can call him to my dreams."

"Interesting…" Lisa said as she stepped away from the door. Then after a few minutes of silence she said, "do you remember how it felt the day you were marked?"

Both Stark and I nodded; I remember how horrible it felt that day.

"That is the effect of the tracking," she continued, "I am pretty sure he will feel it too, which is why we need a diversion, make him think you put a spell on him or something, make him think the bad feeling is because of the spell, not the tracker. Because if he knows it's me, the track will break, and both you and I will be doomed!"

We stayed up for a while later, making minor adjustments to our plan (such as where to meet, and how to go after our target.) after all was set and done, I went to my futon with Stark on my side comforting me before _**my**_ new nightmare…


	14. Chapter 14

Lenobia's old friend

Darius was building the tents, while she took the time to remember the last time she visited this place, she was the leader of the dark daughters, she was supposed to be the next high priestess, but it all changed about a week after her visit to this place.

It was about eighty years ago, she was young, excited, waiting to take over, live the life of her role model (the high priestess at that time) if things went differently, she might have remembered how she looked like, maybe her name, they may even be friends today.

When she went back home, her friends were still fighting, more than ever, it came to point where she had to choose a side, but she refused to saying "how can a mother choose a favorite child?"

Despite her efforts, the fights went on, going greater and greater each day. Each of the two started gathering followers, and supporters. Lenobia did not give it any attention, until a week after her visit to the camp.

Her name was Angela Barkly, she was the first vampire to die because of the incident, Lenobia always blamed herself for her death. If she acted before, tried to stand between her friends, Angela would have still been alive and possibly close friends with her too today.

But the fight went on, even at the funeral. The moment it was over, the now divided House of Night started a battle on who should take over the castle, soon both lost interest and left. Lenobia was left alone at the castle, which gave her time to think. She soon found a way to end this war, but the solution was only a last resort, she wanted to try something first.

She wanted her friends to talk with each other one last time. So she sent them both letters, the action she soon realized was the worst mistake she ever did.

Her friends met, but still fought, refusing to talk. She soon had to choose a side, and do the thing that will lead to her depression, which in turn led to the seventy years no living sole ever heard.

"What's wrong?" Darius asked sitting next to her after finishing the tents.

"Nothing," she replied, "just remembering the good old days."

"Interesting," he said, "I always wanted to know how vampires lived during the witch hunting times!"

She couldn't help but giggle because when she was his age, she used to think about vampires living in the Stone Age.

"It wasn't that bad," she said, "When I lived, humans did not scare me as much as vampires…"

"Why is that?" he asked, "I mean you are all vampires, you've been through the same stuff, lived the same life, maybe even in the same place."

"That is true," she answered, "but we did not always think the same, some of us took things to extremes, where they needn't go."

She never wanted to talk about it, but she does now, maybe it is revisiting this place she loved so much, or the innocent young vampire who wanted to hear an interesting story. All she knew now is that she wanted to share her story.

"My friends used to fight a lot," she began, "it came to a point where other vampires got hurt, but they continued, some vampires blamed the first while fought alongside the second, others did the exact opposite. In the end, I had to choose as well, but ever since that day, I fear I may have chose the wrong side." She stopped talking as tears started to fall down her cheeks, and Darius stayed there speechless.

About ten minutes later, a single raindrop fell on the palm of Lenobia's hand. She moved her hand closer to her face as the raindrop tried to escape from her fingers, but she held it close. She looked at it for what seemed like eternity, and then out of nowhere, a smile escaped her lips.

"She's here" was all she said.

"Who is?" Darius asked

Her smile grew bigger as she answered, "the friend I chose…"

She kept smiling as the sun started to rise, and Darius told her that it is time to go into the tents.


	15. Chapter 15

**Kalona's New Nightmare**

He never thought it was possible, the woman he fell in love with for centuries, abused his emotions again. He was called to her dreams once more, but this time, he felt her despair, he felt her need for a companion, if only he knew how good an actress she was.

He went to bed early that day to answer her call. He went to her that dream and he found her in a cold dark place. She was angry, screaming at someone, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she was crying.

As he came in closer, he saw that she was shouting at another girl her age. It was the girl he saw back on the island, she was the one who took over Aia's duties when she was lost in darkness.

"What is wrong?" he asked as he took a step closer to the scene.

"YOU!" she said with eyes of flame staring at him, "YOU did this to me!" she walked closer to him still with the same angry look on her face, "You made her follow me here!"

"What!" was all he can say, "I don't understand!"

"After you killed my consort, my soul was shattered," she answered, "I was lost to darkness, I did not know what to do, neither did my friends, this one here," she pointed at the young girl, "decided to bring me back, and the only way she thought she could help, was by sacrificing herself, and now her spirit is bound to mine making me feel guilty all the time…"

"It was not your fault Aia!" he said…

"Yes it was!" she answered angrier than before, "if my soul wasn't shattered, she wouldn't have made the sacrifice, she wouldn't have followed me all this time." She paused there for a while then continued, "Wait a minute, it's not my fault, it's yours" she said looking at his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" he said surprised.

"It was you who shattered my soul," she replied, "it was you who killed my consort, and it was you who created this... this… this stalker!"

Not liking where this is going, he started to think it was a bad decision to come here, so he started to back away slowly.

But Aia was not going to let him go away that easily, she followed him saying, "you are the one who deserves to be followed by this _thing_," with a wicked look in her eyes she continued, "if anyone deserves a spirit stalker, it's you. You deserve someone who will be there to remind you of all the people you killed, someone who will be there every time you kill someone, someone who will serve as a conscience to the devil!"

Still backing away, he saw her do something with her hands, then said a few words he did not understand, "what are you doing?"

"Casting a spell," she replied, "thankfully, my grandma, the Cherokee Guia woman taught me this ritual. It is a spell that wards away spirits, but with spirits as attached as this one, it can't go away, it can only be transferred."

"TRANSFERRED?" he said surprised as Aia threw her hands in his direction and he felt something hit him that made him fall on the ground. He quickly stood back on his feet to see that both Aia and the young woman where no longer there. But they don't have to be there, their faces are carved into his mind, and he will never forget this day.

**Zoe and Aphrodite**

"That went well," Aphrodite told me the moment we woke up, "I didn't know you act like that."

"Well, let's just hope my good acting is good enough for him to believe that you're his stalker not our actual stalker." I replied

"Speaking of which, where is she?"

"She must have already left, you know she can't leave at night when all tracker vamps are awake…"

"Yeah your right, the sun will set soon anyway, and that is our queue to leave this place."

Due to an impulse I opened the blinds to look at the blue sky for just one second, but sadly, rain clouds had the whole sky covered, you can't even see the sun.

"Figures," I said, "it's raining on my special full moon ritual, and Steve Rae wanted to do this thing outdoors."

Aphrodite stepped closer to the window and looked to the sky. A few seconds later she said, "WOW! Some rain clouds! I haven't seen some this thick since the last vision we had."

As she said that my stomach tightened like it never did before, with eyes as wide as a baseball I looked at Aphrodite who seemed to share my face.

"It's happening!" was all I managed to say.


	16. Chapter 16

**Stevie's new plan**

"Aw Crap!" Stevie said while looking at the sky, "the one special day we have been waiting for and you make it rain!"

Everyone in the courtyard was running like crazy, they where all working their best to bring all their hard work back into the temple.

"Some head start," Brad was standing behind her holding a clipboard taking notes of what everyone is doing.

"I hate to be so military like, but…" she cleared her throat and said, "status report."

After a short chuckle he said, "Most of the red fledglings are taking the chairs back to the wreck room, Damien Erin and Kramisha are taking care of the decorations, taking it down without destroying it was harder than they thought. And Jack is working with the sound system on his own, poor lad, I was on my way to help him when I bumped into you, but even with my help, we won't be able to finish up before Zoe gets here."

"Well, decoration needs a lot of help as well, I guess we have no choice but to get the research team to help."

"But the whole point of having the research team was to keep you know who apart."

"You're right, but we won't make it without the extra hand…" she paused for a few minutes then said, "I'm gonna risk it, Shawnee and Erin have to meet during the ritual, and I'd rather have first contact happening in front of our eyes than in front of the whole school."

"Good point," he said, "should I go help Jack or would you rather have me walk all the way to the library?"

"Nah," she replied, "I want to talk to jack for a few minutes. Besides, you already have the clip board, and you know what teams need more help than I do, just make sure Shawnee is not on the decoration team."

"At the risk of sounding all military like," he said with a huge smile on his face, "Aye aye captain!"

Stevie pushed him towards the school buildings before she laughed her way to the speakers where Jack was doing his magic. He was working so hard that he did not notice her standing next to him. He was detaching wires and re attaching others, so fast that you can barely see what was happening. Suddenly his movement stopped, and Stevie Rae noticed he was trying to reach a high wire.

She grabbed a nearby chair and gave it to him saying, "Here, this should help."

The moment she spoke, he jumped so high, the wire he was trying to catch seemed lower than limbo stick. Laughing he said, "thanks," as he took the chair and stood on it, "I hope it doesn't start raining before I finish disconnecting these things, otherwise, we're looking at a music-less ritual."

"Sorry I scared you," she said as she held the chair under his feet as he tried to climb higher on it, "didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"It's not your fault," he replied, "I was focused so hard that even a fully functioning marching band could sneak up on me."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore," she said pointing at the fledgling army heading leavening the school building, "help is on its way!"

"Wow!" he said looking at the huge number of students walking their way, "I did not know this much students cared about our rituals, I'm still used to it being just the six of us!"

"You better get used to this then," she said, "it's never gonna be just the six of us anymore, our friend is the leader of vampires, and everyone here wants to help."

"I'm still gonna miss the old days!" he said

"So am I jack," she said as a tear escaped her eye, "so am I."

She left jack with a group of capable hands as she walked around the courtyard making sure everything is working fine. After her tour, she took a long walk around the school think of her BFF. She misdeed her so much. It's been a while since they last had breakfast together, or watched a movie, or even took a walk like this one. She thought that helping her out like this would mean that Zoe would have more free time, but as it turns out, she started having less free time. But even with all the work she is doing, and the small amount of time they spend together, she still feels like she is doing something in her life, she is still helping a friend in need, and that gave her all the satisfaction she can ask for.

Near the end of her walk, it started drizzling slowly, so she headed back to the courtyard near the Temple only to find that most of the work has been done, but there was still a lot of work. Only for a few people working hard (including Jack now moving the equipment into the temple) the courtyard was lifeless. She asked the nearest student about where everybody was, he told her that Shawnee and Erin had another fight, and this time used their affinities, so Brad and Kramisha took Erin to the wreck room top calm her down, and Grandma Redbird and is now inside the Temple helping Shawnee, Damien and the others with the decorations.

The thought of having Grandma Redbird in the ritual made Stevie Rae smile, but the thought of having Shawnee and Erin fight during the ritual and hurting everyone in there was painful. So she decided to go to the gate and wait for Zoe to tell her about the new fight as she started to think of replacements for both Shawnee and Erin (the ritual must go on, and it won't go on with wither of them in it).


	17. Chapter 17

**Zoe's Race Against Time**

"We have to go, NOW" I yanked the blanket Stark was holding so tight (it felt like taking a teddy bear out of the clutches of a ten year old). He barely opened his eyes and said, "The sun hasn't even set yet!"

"I know," I said, "but we need to go back to the house of night fast…"

"So, you'd rather I burn just so you can get back to school?" he said still drowsy.

"You won't burn, because the sun is hiding behind a very thick layer of clouds," I pointed to the window with open blinds, "I want to go back to school because I have a feeling that something bad is gonna happen tonight."

"What sort of feeling?" he asked, "I know you don't talk about these feelings, but I usually feel them too, and right now I don't"

"Well, it's a feeling I share with someone else I have a bond with, and it's not mental/physical like ours."

"EW!" Aphrodite said as I told her to shut up.

"Okay," stark said now almost fully awake, "I am still lost!"

"We," I stopped for a while because I felt things needed to be more clear for daytime Stark, "Aphrodite and I think that one of the visions we told you about will happen tonight, and we need to go to the House of Night fast in order to stop it."

"I see," he said rubbing the sand out of his eyes, "but which of the visions are we talking about, the one where Shawnee and Erin fight, or the one where everyone dies?"

"We believe it's the second one," I replied, "now get dressed and let's get going!"

He finally got out of bed, and started changing. "So what's the plan?" Aphrodite asked, "If these people have a ritual for your arrival, they are bound to have one for your departure!"

"I don't care, we are leaving!" I pulled stark out of the door before he even buckled his shoes. Outside, the village looked empty, it appears as though everyone is still sleeping. "This should be easy" I said as I walked towards the main gate.

The gate guards where still there, just as I saw them a night before. "we need to leave," I said before they could even say hello.

"I'm sorry young priestess," one of the guards said, "we can't let you leave without a guide to the woods, some people get lost for years out there. Besides, your guide isn't here to give you the departure ritual, which includes the presence of our prime brother."

"I've seen enough of that idiot you call your leader," I said staring right in the guys eyes, "I have to go ASAP or life as we know it will seize to exist."

"I'm sorry miss, I can't open the gate without your guide or the prime brother's approval"

"Fine!" I said as I held Stark's hand and used my affinities to help us jump over the gate, I just wish I could see the look on their face now.

"Now what?" Stark asked me as we started to run through the forest, "do you know where to go?"

"No idea," I answered, "but Aphrodite might, she may be able to help me find Darrious."

"Okay," she said, "I hope my connection to him didn't go after I died…" a few minutes after running aimlessly through the woods she screamed, "I found him! And he understands the urgency, he is cleaning up the camp site as we speak, more like run…"

**Darrious**

After convincing Lenobia that he somehow intercepted another thought/feeling from Zoe, they both started packing their stuff, putting down the tent, and loading it on the car.

"Why do you think you are getting these messages from Zoe?" Lenobia was asking as she closed her suitcase

"I don't know," he answered, "maybe its because my priestess died and now I am getting messages from another."

"But why?" asked Lenobia, "and warriors loose their priestesses all the time they hardly ever find another…"

"Maybe it's because Zoe and Aphrodite have a strong connection," he replied as he lifted her bag, among other items and headed to the car, "I mean, Aphrodite got Zoe's powers when her soul was shattered, maybe Zoe got hers after her sacrifice…"

"It's a possibility," Lenobia said as she closed the trunk, "all done, now all we have to do is wait for them to arrive."

"You don't have to wait for them that long!" Zoe was standing in front of the car panting with Stark standing strong beside her.

Darrious looked at her with glowing eyes as if he was looking at the most beautiful thing he ever saw. "Aphrodite!" he said before running to her giving her a long embrace followed by the most passionate kiss he has ever given.


	18. Chapter 18

**Zoe and the Two Warriors**

My kiss with Darrious was so powerful, it felt like a romantic wave rushing through my body and soul trying to find its way to my heart, and as his lips parted with mine, the wave found what it was looking for. Our eyes remained fixed on each other for goddess knows how long, it was only interrupted by the sound of Stark clearing his throat.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said giving Darrious the evil eye, "but I thought we were in a hurry to get back to school."

"Yes we are," was all I managed to say after such a kiss as I opened my own door (normally Stark would have been a gentleman and opened it for me) and got into the car.

When we finally got to a street, I looked at Stark still angry and looking out the window, "I- -" I started to talk but he interrupted me.

"Don't say anything," he said shifting his gaze from the window to me, his voice was carrying an angry tone "you don't need the drama, now, you need to be focused on the task at hand, we'll deal with this after you save the world again."

"Don't be mad at her," Aphrodite started talking, "it's my fault, not hers"

"Of course it is!" he spat the words at me.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Darrious said calmly from the front seat.

"I'm not talking to you!" he said, "You're as much to blame!"

"I apologize, she reminded me of my beloved, especially after knowing of her existence, then spending a day without her, followed by a message she sent me and then finally seeing her!"

"Well done Darrious, you screw up your job and get to kiss my priestess!"

"Stark!" I said interrupting his angry rant, "you're going too far!"

"What!" he replied with the same pissed off tone, "If he did his job properly, we wouldn't be in this situation…"

"I feel the need to remind you," Darrious said with the same still calm voice of his looking at Starks eyes in the rear view mirror, "we wouldn't be in this situation if you did do your job properly and protected your priestess without killing mine."

"Stop the car!" Stark shouted at the top of his lungs.

"No way," I said, "we are in the middle of nowhere, and we are running on a tight schedule."

"NO, you are running on a tight schedule," he said, "I have nothing to do with it. I need to think and I can't do that with that asshole riding shotgun. So I ask you again, to STOP… THE… DAMN… CAR!"

"Fine," I said as Lenobia turned on the turning signal, "I'd go with you, but you know what will happen if I don't go back to school, you know where to find me, come talk to me when you are ready."

After giving me one last look, he shook his head, then opened the door and left. Lenobia put the car back on drive and started moving. She waited until I was unable to him walking in my rear view mirror then said, "I know it's not the time or place to ask, but I may not get another chance. When did Aphrodite's spirit bond itself to you?"

"It was two days ago, it seems that Nyx believes that Aphrodite's time on earth is not over, and that she is still needed here with us…" and the I told her everything, about the visions, the battle between Shawnee and Erin, even Kalona and Lisa.

"Well, not to add to your plate," Lenobia said after a long pause, "but an old friend of mine is coming to visit, the rainclouds you see above your head, are her doing, I believe she is coming to Tulsa tonight, she wants to end the war she led before it starts." Just then I remembered that in my vision there was a tall woman who walked into the destroyed temple to kill Shawnee.

"What will Rain gain after killing Shawnee?" the words came out of my mouth without passing through my brain, it was like someone else said the words instead.

As a result, Lenobia floored the gas pedal as tears started to fall down her cheeks, "because I did the same thing to end the old Bloody War." I wanted to ask for more details, but I didn't know what to say, so I decided to let her take her time. A few minutes later she started talking again.

"When I was a fledgling at the House of Night, I had a lot of friends, two of them where special, the daughter of a fire breather, ironically called herself Snow after joining later developed an affinity to fire, the girl who loved to dance in the rain, called herself rain later developed an affinity to water. I asked them to tell everyone at school, they had affinities; one of them should have been the leader of the dark daughters, not me. But they wanted to keep it secret, saying neither of them had the leadership abilities I had. I think they didn't want to lead because there will be a fight on which of them should lead and they chose to remain friends instead.

"But all that changed near graduation, something happened, I don't remember exactly what happened, but they started to fight and it grew to become what we know as the Bloody War. I knew I was supposed to end it so I did, by choosing a side." She paused for another few minutes, "I killed Snow, and Rain watched me do that. After trying everything I can, it was the only thing I can think of. So after it happened Rain started crying over the loss of her best friend, and it started raining exactly like it is now. I never saw her after that." Another pause, "I spent years alone trying to forget what I did, but then I decided to rejoin society, not sure if Rain did the same. Now, you must find a way to stop it."

The car suddenly stopped and I just noticed that we are in the school parking lot.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked.

"Just go," she replied through her pouring tears, "she'll be at the stables, it was our favorite hangout spot, she will be there remembering the good old days, that is what I did."

I wanted to stay with her; I did not like how she looked. She was crying her eyes out, but she didn't let me, saying that I did not have much time.


	19. Chapter 19

**Zoe and the Chaos**

Stevie Rae was waiting for me at the gate, the moment she saw me, she gave me the warmest tightest hug she has ever given me. After a long whole, she backed away and I could see her tears flowing like a waterfall.

"I thought I could do it," she said through her tears, "but it's too much…" she paused for a sniff and continued, "Shawnee and Erin are still fighting, the circle is still not ready, it's starting to rain, and you're here early and can see all the chaos…"

I can't help feel that it is my fault she is feeling this way. If I hadn't relied on her so much, she would not have been this stressed; she would have been her normal perky self. "No sweetie," I said wiping away her tears, "I came here early to stop it." This was followed by a confused look on her face so I continued, "it's a long story that I don't have enough time to tell…" as if she needed a queue to cry more, "I need you to tell me, where is everybody?"

"Erin and Damien are in the wreck room," she replied, "we separated them again due to their fighting, so Shawnee and Grandma Redbird are in the temple prepping for the ritual with Jack."

"Okay then," I said, "the ritual tonight is going to be cancelled, there is too much going on and I can't deal with this now. I want you to go to the wreck room with Darrious and talk to Erin, try to calm her down, and make sure she stays in the wreck room with the rest. I need to talk to Grandma Redbird for a while and I'll meet you in our room before dawn with a full blown explanation."

She wiped the remaining tears off her face before she ran to the school building followed by a reluctant Darrious. I turned and started walking towards the temple. As I walked, Aphrodite said, "I can feel what you are thinking, and I don't like it."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." That was a lie, because I had a plan, and I did not want her to know about it because she will be completely against it.

I opened the door to the temple and I almost bumped into Shawnee doing so. The almost bump turned into a tight hug followed by one of her really fast rambling "Zoe! Your back," she said, "tell me all about it, down to the last detail…"

"I will soon," was my answer, "I need you to go pack some of your stuff, you and I are going on a little field trip for a few days, so pack light, and no designer stuff coz no one is going to see us…" before she could open her mouth to ask questions I interrupted saying, "I will answer all your question when we meet at the stables in about half an hour. Now go."

Still confused, she left the room as the door closed behind her. Now I go to the hard/awkward part.

Grandma was standing beside Jack helping him with the wires. The confusion on her face made me chuckle. I haven't seen that look since I tried to show her how she can contact me on Facebook…

"Jack," I said, "go get some rest, you need it, and you can carry on whatever you are doing here later."

"But what about the ritual?" he asked.

"It's cancelled," I replied, "now go get some rest; I need to talk to Grandma in private."

"How could a full moon ritual get cancelled?" he said surprised, "this has never happened in the history of this school."

"I spilled chocolate milk on my dress and did not memorize my speech," I said angrily, "need any more excuses."

I could see that he was hurt by the words I said as he answered "No!" and left the room.

"I know you could never hurt someone like that unless its urgent" Grandma's voice always helped me calm down, "what is wrong u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya?"

And then I told her everything, Aphrodite's death, her attachment to me, the visions we had, the drama we faced back at tracker camp, even the next step I planned to take. During my explanations she kept silent while nodding her head every once in a while.

Finally, after I was done she said, "I see what you are going through, but are you sure this is the only way?"

"Yes," I answered, "I think it is the only way I can solve this problem without hurting anyone."

"That depends on your definition of 'hurting'" she said, "but now, enough talk, you have to go, Rain is waiting to fall down."

"Thanks grandma" I said as I headed to the door, but something stopped me halfway there. "you know what," I said, "I think I found your teaching replacement!"

"Really!" she said surprised, "with all this chaos you managed to get me a retirement plan!" both she and I laughed, "who is it? She asked.

"She' your new student," I answered, "Erin just changed yesterday, and I think she has to leave soon, unless I find her a job in the school."

"A good choice!" she said, "I always thought she had an eye for magic and rituals, she will make a great teacher. I'll go tell her the good news right now."

I looked at her smile one last time, and as I smiled back, I left.


	20. Chapter 20

**Zoe and the Rain**

It started to rain a little harder when I left the temple. "I don't like your plan" Aphrodite said as I started running towards the stables. "You don't have to like it," I answered, "I'm still doing it."

The stable was as small and quiet as ever. As I walked in the front door, I heard the sound of a brush doing its job. _Rain must be here, _I thought, _but why would she come a horse at this time, she is planning to kill Shawnee later tonight. _

As I walked closer to her, I stepped on a twig that made the brushing stop. "I know you're in here," I said, "and I know about your plan."

And suddenly I felt someone grab me from behind and hold a dagger to my throat. "Then give me one good reason not to cut your head off…" an angry voice said to my ear.

"I know who you are, what you did, and why," I said.

"I was best friends with a bitch!" she said, "It's not that hard to figure out…"

"It wasn't her fault," I said, "it wasn't yours either. I know of a demon that managed to turn a high priestess against her beliefs and actions, so turning two school girls against each other would be a piece of cake for him…"

"Two school girls!" she said angrier than ever, "I was never a school girl, neither was the bitch. We had a great destiny ahead of us, but all was lost, because she was a bitch!"

"Stop calling her that, she has a name, and it's Snow."

As if she could get any angrier, she pushed me on the floor, I rolled to the side and laid on my back, but pinned me down and pointed the dagger at my heart. Her face came close to mine, that if she came an inch closer, our noses would touch. I still could not see her properly because it was dark in the room and she was way too close. "Don't say that name again," She said as the rain started to fall harder.

"Why do you hate her so much?" I asked

"Because she was a bitch!" she replied

"But you were friends for three years before she turned into a bitch!" I paused for a few seconds, and then continued, "funny, my friends went through the same thing, they were best friends, more like sisters for years until they started fighting two days ago."

"Don't dare compare me to a common school girl!"

"I'm not, my friends both have the same powers you and your fri- I mean the bitch had," I paused again for a few seconds then continued, "now that I think about it, I'm more like Lenobia than I thought, I am the leader of the dark daughters, and two dark daughters with fire and water affinities, who happen to be my friends are fighting now all of a sudden."

"You know Lenobia?" she asked, the rain still falling harder and now managed somehow to fall on my face.

"Yes," I answered, "she teaches equestrian arts here at the school. Of course she did return to the real world after 30 years of trying to forget what she did."

"She told you about that too?"

"Yes, but only recently, she still regrets her actions so she kept it to herself all this time, but she told ME her story because she sees the common patterns, and she knows I have a way to stop the fighting without any deaths."

Her grip on me loosened. And soon, as the leaking rain on my face increased, she let go of me completely. She got up and sat next to me. "Can you really stop this?"

"I think so," I said as I sat up next to her, "Nyx has granted me powers you cannot imagine, and so far, I've only used them to alienate my friends and in some cases unintentionally kill them…"

"I know how that feels" she said with a chuckle.

"I know the demon responsible for this thing, I have a tracker on his tail, I plan to go after him to kill him, and I have a feeling that I can't do it without you."

"You seem to have a lot of powerful friends, why don't you ask them to join?"

"I do, but I have a lot of them, if I ask one, the others will want to join. Plus I put them in too much drama in the past few months that I don't want them to deal with anymore. Add the fact that you are even faster, more powerful and experienced than any of them."

"Flattery will get you nowhere kid; you should have learned that by now."

"It's not flattery if it's the truth, you should know that. And I think you regret her death, which is why you were trying to make up for it by killing Shawnee early before a war blows up out of nowhere, but that will only solve your problem, and Erin's will start. Helping me will be the right way to help you"

"Jerry Maguire reference…" she said laughing, "I loved that movie…"

"Is that a yes" I asked while crossing my fingers.

"Yes," she said smiling through some tears, "I will help you help me…"

Her answer was right on time because Shawnee just came in carrying a backpack on her back and another small bag in her hand. "you wouldn't tell where we are going, so I packed a piece for every possible scenario-" she closed the door behind her when she noticed that I was not alone, "oh hello, I'm Shawnee," she continued after dropping the bag and extending her hand to Rain.

"Okay, I have to go get some stuff for our journey, you two get acquainted while I'm gone," I said as I headed to the door. Halfway across the room, I stopped and said, "am I going to regret leaving you two together?"

Rain shook her head I smiled and left the room.


	21. Chapter 21

**Zoey and the Note**

I did not want to tell the girls this, but the only reason I wanted to go to the room was to talk to Steve Ra, I promised her an explanation, and she is getting one. But then I thought, if she was in the room, she'd think that I was doing this so she would offer to join in, and then go with me even if I try to stop her, and even if she does not want to come. So as I entered the girl's dorm, I hoped that she was still with Erin and the others in the wreck room.

The moment of truth. I opened the door to the room and it was still empty, _excellent!_ I opened the drawer next to my bed and took out a pen and a paper to write a note.

"Coward!" Aphrodite said as I started with the note.

"What are you talking about?" I asked

"So you choose to abandon your friend in need here" she replied, "and instead of a real answer, you leave her a note…"

"No I'm not abandoning her, I am giving her the break she deserved." I paused for a few seconds then said, "you don't know how it feels to be me, everyone just drops whatever they were doing to help me, and some lose more than they bargained for."

"How so?" she asked calmly.

"Jack and Damien barely have time for each other, Shawnee and Erin are doing all they can to help until they started hating each other, Steve Rae is working so hard that her social and love life don't exist. And then there is you…"

"What about me?"

"You seriously asking that question?" I said, "Look at you, you are dead because of me…"

"No," she replied, "I am dead because I chose to, not because of you. I am dead because it was the only thing I can do to save my friends…"

"Well then," I said, "it is my choice to leave my friends behind, protect them from the stress that is bound to come, and go after Kalona alone, instead of him finding us here and bringing the fight to us…"

She just stood there for few minutes as I finished writing the note. When I was done I stood up and went to Steve Rae's bed, and left the note on her pillow.

"I am ready to go," I said, "stay here if you want, Nyx brought you back because you had unfinished business, maybe you will be able to figure it out and deal with it here, among friends, teachers, and people who love you, I think I can use my affinities to release you…"

"you are not getting rid of me that easily," she said angrily, "sure you want to keep Steve Rae here to protect her, I don't need protecting, you do..."

"You sure you want to come, we might not return. I might end up dead, and who knows what will happen to you when that happens…"

"I don't care, you need me, and I'm gonna be there for you, no matter what"

Just then I felt my face heat up the same way my skin heats up when I get a new tattoo. But I already have tattoos on my face. I looked up at Aphrodite confused to see the tattoos forming on her face.

We looked at each other for a few minutes before she said, "so, you think this means you are making the right choice by going after Kalona?"

"I don't know," I felt the words coming from a higher power as I said them, "but I know it means you are making the right choice by staying with me"

Both of us smiled at each other before we headed out of the dorms to meet our new friends and head out for the quest that will keep us busy for years...


	22. Chapter 22

**Steve Rae and the Note**

It was a long day. First she had to decorate for the full moon ritual, then work twice as hard to change the location of the "party" only to find out it was going to be cancelled. Now she is just sitting there in the wreck room making sure Erin does not leave, and the job was not as easy as it sounds.

Everything changed when Granma Redbird came by to tell them that Erin was recently hired at the House of Night. So she figured that the cake she bought earlier that day did not go in vain. So what was meant to celebrate a new beginning with a new High Priestess at the House of Night, ended up being a celebration for a new beginning of a new teacher.

Steve Rae was laughing and smiling as she took photos with her phone when Erin cut the cake, she also asked a first year student to take a photo of the group she loved to hang out with. It wasn't until later, after everyone had a piece of the cake, she noticed that Zoe and Shawnee were not with them. So she went and asked Grandma Redbird about Zoe, mainly asking why she didn't come in herself to deliver the good news. Grandma Redbird's answer was that Zoe had plans for Shawnee and she was busy dealing with them.

For some reason, the answer worried her and she left the party that very moment, running as fast as she could to her room hoping she finds her best friend there. But when she opened the door to her room, all she found an empty room with the only moving thing was a big ball of fur on Zoe's bed.

She soon noticed that there was a piece of paper lying on her bed, and before she started reading, she noticed Zoe's handwriting.

The note said:

Dear Steve Rae

I was supposed to be there in the room tonight, but something came up and I had to leave. Nothing I can say can explain my actions, and nothing I can say could make this easier to handle.

You are my best friend and as my best friend you did all you could to help me. But I feel like what I am asking you to do is a little too much, that you are ruining your life just to help me. So as your best friend, I am helping you this time. I am helping you by reducing the stress I cause you every day, by letting you live your life the way you want it to be, not the way I want it…

I hope you understand how I am doing this in your favor. And I hope I return from this quest safe and sound so I can see your smile one last time.

With love

Zoe

She could not believe what she was reading. Her best friend who was supposed to know how she feels, misunderstood her completely and left her there all alone. Steve Rae liked the way her life turned out to be, she had a friend who was making a difference in the world, and she had the pleasure to help her make that difference. But now with this note, her friend rejected the help she was giving.

She did not know how she felt. It was depressing because of the fact that she might not see her friend ever again. She felt empty, because now she had nothing else to do. She felt angry because her friend rejected her.

Just ad she was sorting her feelings, the door to her room opened. She looked up to see Stark with another vampire she did not know enter the room. He looked at the calm tidy room with confusion, and then looked at her eyes (which were starting to tear up).

"What did I miss?" he asked

All she could do was lift up the piece of paper that broke her heart.


	23. Chapter 23

**Stark and the Note**

After he left the car, he immediately regretted it. He was wrong to think that his priestess loved someone else. He was wrong to blame Darrious for this little mix up. Hoping his actions did not cost him his relationship, he rushed as fast as he could back towards the school. Thankfully they were out of the forest when he got out and he was able to find his way to the main roads.

He thought that running all the way to school would take him days. So he thought he should charm a random human to drive him there. So he stood in the middle of the road to try and stop a car.

Traffic was slow on that road, and only three cars passed by during the twenty minute wait him (they were too fast for him to stop). As luck had it, a car stopped in front of him on its own, a few seconds later the front door opened on its own.

He found it weird that a human would stop for a vampire hitchhiker, but he was in a hurry and did not have time to over analyze things.

"So," the driver said while he put the car on D, "I guess you and I are heading to the same place"

Before he could ask him what he meant, he looked at him and saw that he had a mark from Nyx on his forehead. His answer was "I guess we are!" the driver smiled as the car started to gain speed on the highway.

During the ride, Stark was a little confused; he was riding with a vampire he never saw before, to the school he went to. He started to wonder what business he had there.

"So, what brings you to the House of Night this close to sunrise?" Stark asked.

"We found a target, and my job is to get him settled in the school by moving some of his things and giving the high priestess his background information…" he replied

"Oh, so you are a tracker!" Stark said surprised, "I thought your camp would stop dealing with our school after what happened last night…"

"Same here, but it gets even weirder," he said as he took the exit to Utica Square, "normally, we do not receive tracks up to a week after a high priestess introduction. So it was a major surprise when I got the file and medallion from Adam himself telling me to get this to Zoe as soon as possible."

"interesting…" stark replied.

The rest of the ride was silent. As the car got through the main gate, Stark said, "It's almost dawn, so I guess Zoe is in her room now, we should head there now."

Stark and the tracker headed to the girls dorms as quick as they can. Stark led the way up the stairs and through the corridor until he reached the door to Zoe's room.

He opened the door quick and saw that Zoe was not in the room. He then saw that Steve Rae was in there sitting on her bed starting to cry.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

Her response was giving him a piece of paper with a note from Zoe.

As he read the note, the tracker walked in saying, "where is the young priestess? I need to give her these?"

"The young priestess is gone, and she left me in charge," she replied as Stark finished reading the note and starting to tear up himself.

"Very well then," the tracker said as he handed the file to her, "this is a file containing all the information you need to know about the new student, find him a good room. His belongings will be here shortly, and he will arrive tomorrow midnight."

He thanked Stark for his help and left the room.

**Steve Rae and the Medallion**

Stark started to read the note again not believing what he read the first time as Steve Rae opened the file.

Right on top of the stack of papers and photos in the file was a small envelope with the words "I'm sorry" written on it. She opened the envelope to find the weirdest most beautiful medallion she ever saw. It was a black stone carved in the shape of a flat square with round corners, and right in the middle of it, there was a silver crescent moon with a silver star on either side.

"What is this?" she asked Stark about the medallion but as she lifted her head, she found that she was alone in the room.

She looked out the door and saw that Stark was heading leaving the dorms.

"Hey!" she said, "where are you going? It's almost dawn!"

"I'm going to find her!" he replied.

"What?" she said confused, "and where are you going to look?"

"I don't know, all I know is that I am going to find her…"

And so he left without another word. She did not know it then, but it was the last time she ever saw Stark…

**To be continued in the next installment of my House of Night series:**

**REJECTED…**


End file.
